Designing Motherhood: A Visceral Design Guide to the Material Culture of Reproduction
by Kate Burnett Budzyn Pregnancy pillows, exam stirrups, nursing bras, pantyliners: the stuff of design? In their new book—based on a years-long multiplatform project in partnership with Philadelphia’s Maternity Care Coalition—Michelle Millar Fisher and...
Black Designers in American Fashion: Making Space for Dress History Across Disciplines
by Kate Burnett Budzyn Black Designers in American Fashion is, simply put, one of the most important recent publications in historic dress scholarship. Released this past summer by Bloomsbury and edited by Elizabeth Way, Assistant Curator of Costume at...
The Stories They Tell…from the Herdeg Collection
by Matthew A. Thurlow With the caveat that I housesat for Judy and John Herdeg as a graduate student and enjoyed their hospitality on numerous occasions during my academic and professional careers, their recent publication is nonetheless worthy of your...
Bodily Things: Three Recent Books Underscore the Centrality of Bodies in Material Studies
by Kate Burnett Budzyn It is a fact “so obvious that some of us take it for granted,” writes the historian and anthropologist Michel-Rolph Trouillot: “History begins with bodies and artifacts.”1 All material culture enthusiasts know that objects are...
Building a History of Early American Jewish Women from Objects: Laura Arnold Leibman’s ‘The Art of the Jewish Family’
by Kate Burnett BudzynLaura Arnold Leibman’s The Art of the Jewish Family: A History of Women in Early New York in Five Objects, published in 2020 by Bard Graduate Center, is a history drawn from material fragments. Acknowledging the paucity of records...
About The Decorative Arts Trust Bulletin
Formerly known as the "blog,” the Bulletin features new research and scholarship, travelogues, book reviews, and museum and gallery exhibitions. The Bulletin complements The Magazine of the Decorative Arts Trust, our biannual members publication.